This website is an impossible project. It aims at documenting every operatic tenor since the invention of the
recording process, ideally with at least one sound file, at least one picture, a discography and a (however short) biography or career outline.
Well... did I already mention that it's totally impossible to ever come close to such an encyclopedic aim? And yet, what this website has grown
to over the years actually is a tenor encyclopedia - and a surprisingly exhaustive one, thanks to the contributions of many, many collectors and experts over many, many years. (Keep the stuff coming, folks!)
The heirloom organization of the site is by sections that are partly geographic (like "East European tenors"), partly linguistic ("German
speaking tenors"), partly by voice type ("Comprimarii"). This may be less that logical (for instance, so many German speakers once came from Eastern
Europe: Russia, Poland, Latvia, Slovakia, the Czech Republic..., and there were also comprimarii among them), but as I said, it's
well-established and will thus remain for now, though probably not forever.

Be warned that the makers of this site have never been among those opera lovers who are always and inevitably amazed, particularly
at contemporary singing, and who are convinced that if a singer has become famous, that's proof enough that s/he must be one of the great. On
the contrary! Stardom is a matter of good luck (regularly also of good looks), and of marketing - and increasingly so! It has nothing to do with
ability or quality, and many of the best singers have always been, and increasingly are, all but unknown; while an equal percentage of famous
singers have always been, and increasingly are, just awful!! François Nouvion, this site's founder, used to write on the start page: "If you
believe that Carreras, Domingo and Pavarotti were among the greatest tenors of all time, well this site is not for you." That's still very true,
and it's also true of the predecessors and of course of Flórez, Kaufmann and Becza&lstrok;a or other successors of the "Three Tenors".
Or wait... perhaps this site is precisely for you who think that such singers are great. The stuff on this site might open your eyes (or rather,
your ears). If, on the other hand, you already know that of the "Three Tenors" generation, the three truly great tenors were, say, Bonisolli,
Moldoveanu and Terranova, you'll find plenty of music and information here that's going to make you happy. Plus all of you, I swear, will
literally find hundreds of tenors whose names you've never heard so far.

Additions and corrections are most welcome and will be acknowledged.
Robert Schlesinger

For the time being, mostly "old" content will be uploaded (again) - but in a technically (not aesthetically!) improved manner. Eventually, all
links, particularly those to sound files, will work again (which too many of them haven't done for a very long time). Links to sections that have
not yet been perfectly restored and reinstalled will remain inactive until everything in that section is working again.GO TORECENT UPDATES